WIWO Thursday: Crafting

originally published october 16, 2014

They say there is an affliction called Nesting that befalls pregnant women (mammals?) in the last trimester. They are caught up in a sudden urge to clean and prepare every little thing before the babe comes. Our Realtor confessed that when she was in her last trimester she was up on her roof cleaning gutters. GUTTERS! Our baby isn't going anywhere near the gutter, otherwise I'm sure he would be ashamed. The truth is I am here at 36 weeks, slightly sick, exhausted and in no mood to clean one more inch of this house. Still in between remodeling jobs (although painting is finished! Thanks to my beautiful sister) my soul has almost given up on tinkering, reorganizing and shifting boxes. Let alone dreaming up extra loads of laundry to do, and nooks of floor to mop. 

Alas, I am caught up in another mood entirely. Crafting. I know what you are thinking--but, I do not consider myself a "crafter". There is no shame in the word, in fact I see crafters as "jacks of all prettiness". Martha Stewart is a crafter (if she does in fact make all that stuff on her website). Those who have made something actually cool with modpodge are crafters. People who know how to get in and out of Hobby Lobby are crafters. I love to sew, I love to cook, I love to paint--but rarely do I step outside of my narrow aisle of creating. I could probably count all the crafts I've actually completed on my 2 hands. (but then again maybe not because I would have to try to remember Girls Camp...) My "Craft" supplies consist of tempera paint, some odd spools of floral tape, fake flowers I've never used, 1 bottle of tacky glue and a hot glue gun--which I cannot wield safely let alone skillfully. I don't even own glitter!

My point is: this is a weird feeling. So my first craft? I bought a vase, twinkly-light-up-twigs and made a center piece with some handfuls of freshly picked acorns. My acorn/twinkly stick vase was charming until the acorns let loose a pile of fat white maggots. There is no picture of that craft. See, you crafters saw that coming right?

Next, I made a wreath. I associate wreathes with moms, so maybe that is why I made one. There is no tutorial or anything, since I'm afraid of the hot glue gun I'm pretty sure most of this will fall apart once I take it down. But it sure does burst with autumnal pride right?

I have a hefty line up, considering I will be in charge of a newborn human in just a few weeks. But only a few are outside my realm of creating, so maybe the crafting hasn't gotten that intense yet. I mean I still haven't purchased a bottle of glitter, and none of these require glue.

1. A leaf garland! The seasonal garland is considered the audition to become a crafter, in case you were wondering.

2. A pillow case for my body pillow! I am also going to do some dip dyeing experiments for your benefit and mine. Here is the start so far.

3. A robe for this future milk machine! I don't think this counts as a craft...

4. Curtains for babe's room! What makes this crafty? Hand stamping. It will become very real

5. Finally? Making at least 1 thing in babe's room match his black curtains!

Which will be finished first? Which project will be left in the dust? Will this affliction stick with Shannon for the rest of her young adult life? Does Mr. Wood even know what is going on? All this and more coming this fall season on dear sweet wood!

Green Goddess Dress..ing

One day I almost wore an outfit made up of one color- asparagus green (matching sandals? yes?). I couldn’t go through with it though. My mother says I have an aversion to simple color combinations. I could never do it. Just can’t. 2 colors and no patterns is the closest I could get. Will ever get. Well, I threw in the gold…

I also wanted to blog about it because I made this dress! One year ago on a nice afternoon with a pile of impulse fabric (which I should note was also a year old. Making the fabric 2 years old. If we are counting) and an old sweater.

Maybe if I were the tutorial type. I would tutorial this. But, I shant. Part of the fun is feeling good you figured something out for your self, no?

Here are some tips though:

• trace a t-shirt you like made from similar material. My t-shirt was a lot stretchier, so the green dress had really tight sleeves that were hard to alter.
• Use a serger. it will go so much faster and the seams will hold better. Probably. I of course have no serger.
• Wear a belt. You just feel classier.
• Do it. Because you are never going to be like. Man. I wish I didn’t use up that pile of fabric I bought on impulse 3 years ago.

 

the back is my favorite part. Also. I literally cannot do one color. Just can’t.

Shannon

June

June has practically come and gone. Here are something's I enjoyed.

1. School is out! one serious move down the street, one 3 day conference, 2 toquerville visits, and I’m about ready to settle down. My total nap hours from the past 2 days=5.

this is me deciding I absolutely have to paint. More photos to come. Maybe.

here is an un-altered photo of me at school. In all my acne, frazzled hair, fluorescent-light soaked  glory. School gets to everyone seniors. You are not the only ones.

2.  I get to actually do things! with friends even!! Like go to Provo outdoor concert series on the rooftop. Does anyone else remember when you didn’t have to save a spot on the rooftop 2 hours before the actual concert? Yeah. Me too. None-the-less. Still lovely

like two of my silly brothers came to hang out!

and these lovely mysterious people.

 

And I even got to celebrate birthdays of two lovely ladies. Unfortunately this was the only picture that wasn’t blurry.

But, let us note that it was a lovely day in Nephi. I ate many doritos. And we talked into the night, like women should.

As always, there is more, these are just a few of the bright spots in our June.

Something poetic, something profound.

Shannon

I Can make That Pretty

In the long list of cute and fun recyclable crafts, this one is probably already on there a hundred times, but maybe you would like to see what I’ve made.

I had a hot chocolate can sitting around. It seemed sturdy so I decided to keep it to store buttons in (because it comes with a lid!). But, no one wants to store their buttons in their craft room in something that advertises hazelnut hot chocolate, that would be unhealthily tacky. So I decided to cover it.

I don’t know if you can technically call me a crafter, because I never have modge podge lying around, or pretty paper. But I do have fabric and various and assorted adhesives. My choices this day were tacky glue, a glue stick or super glue. Obviously I went tacky.

I also had this vintage upholstery sample piece that needed to be seen. Often you can go to furniture shops and they will give you their outdated fabric swatches for free—at least they did for an awkward teenager several years ago. It is nice to have around because it is sturdy and funky.

I also had yellow fruit, baby's breath and natural sunlight on my table, which just screams blog photo.

K guys, super easy.

I know. I say that too much.

Step 1: Cut a rectangle: exactly as tall as your can, and can wrap all the way around plus 1”

Step 2: Glue it on, being sure to over lap the end so it looks nice. I used tacky glue and painted it on with an old brush. Just glue part of it at a time, then rub the fabric down, then glue some more, that way the glue doesn’t dry up.

Step 3: Sit back, look at your can, and feel crafty.

 

Shannon

Mountains and Clouds and A dress

Some things I love always. Like clouds.

Several years ago. When my family was moving to Toquerville and I was there helping, I discovered that my Sweet Grandma Brimhall had these sets of gloriously 70s sheets. One a desert landscape, and one a cool mountainous one. She let me have them and I immediately made the desert set into a cotton summery dress. That was huge. But I still wear it to this day because it is so comfy, and I’m boho enough I can pull it off comfortably I guess.

This spring I was itching for new summer clothes and comfy day dresses that weren’t circus tents. So, ready with a sloper pattern (one that already fit all my oddities) I made a simple cotton dress pattern for the mountain scene.

It took me a couple days to work it out, because I ran into a lot of snafus. Does that every happen to you when you are doing something that should be completely easy? But turns out to be unusually hard? In the end though, it was comfy enough to not be mad at it.  It’s elastic waist—so no silly zippers! Although, I can’t say it was any easier to put in.

yay! summer is coming!

Shannon

Home Sweet Home

Some lovely friends got married. Marriage is wonderful. I like to support marriage by giving it handmade little things. Hopefully they hang it up in their probably very cute little home.

Yeah. I know You can hardly see the words. I understand. It was supposed to be that way….

If you want to make your own crafty hoop art, it is really easy. Just cinch it in tight and glue the edges of the fabric to the hoop inside. Tah dah! Bonus if you can beat my amateur word sewing skills.

Shannon

Dyeing to be Pastel

This lovely little post is the story of a pair of pants born white wanting to be pastel.
The idea came from Lovely Kiera B. my longtime friend and roommate. She wanted some red pants (having some of my own, I only encouraged the idea). So we went off to Ross to buy some white skinnies for each of us.
We commenced dying the next day. Goal: Kiera Red, Shannon Mint.
Unfortunately mine had a disco ball on the back pockets so there was a little work to do before I started.

Fortunately they came off in like 5 minutes. Cheapest. Rhinestones. Ever. Really Ross!
here are the bedazzling's of only one pocket

I know right?
Then the next step was dying. Which of course accompanied triple layer brownies and a chic-flick. If you are going to do something, do it right--you know?
Before:

We did 2 methods: Washing machine and Stovetop.
Kiera’s red pants in the washing machine worked great. We reset the wash twice so that they could get jiggled around in the dye for the suggested 30 minutes. Result? Hot Red Pants in an excellent shade of tomato red. The only con? It dyed my machine pink. A load of bleach took most of it out and a white scrubbing sponge took out most of the rest though.
As for the mint ones? Well, the dying went well. I followed instructions mostly from a RIT package though. Be sure to get your clothing wet before putting it in the dye or else it will not absorb evenly. Also, I used a 98% cotton product, so it sucked up the color like a thirsty giraffe. I didn’t dye it as long as suggested. I bought tulip dye in teal (pale teal would be a nice mint right?). It turns out teal=sky blue, and the only one who cares is me because I am a color snob,  but you all knew that anyways. It will work perfectly for Kiera’s sister’s bridesmaid dresses, but not for my legs.

Exhibit A

Now this I'm sure would work for some people. Although, if you all of the sudden add a slightly unnatural hue to your wardrobe with consists mostly of pale pinks, creams, yellows and tomato reds you are going to be quite sorry. So I had to suck the day glow out of these pants--for the good of the wardrobe.
Also I was incredibly disappointed that the color was not the color advertised on the package…
The solution was to put it in the washing machine in a hot bath of bleached water. Bleach is a tricky thing, never expect it to bleach something just a lighter shade of the current hue, you will be disappointed. Almost always it will bleach yellowish or pinkish (or completely white). So I took a gamble-either it would add just the right amount of pale and yellow to turn these pants mint, or I would get a weird pinkish color.
I was lucky.

Tah-Dah! Now you can look at this blog-made fashion shoot of me wearing my pants, and yes it is true--I just put them on for the picture. But! Still don’t believe me that this looks better?

 VS.

Although, I won’t try to hard to convince you, because in the end it is really just opinion.
To pale-pant-fads that I whole heartedly endorse! Although not for $50 (Gap…)

Shannon

Fresh bows at BowKnots

Hi,

I made some cute little bows for bowknots recently.

I have a current fixation with gold and mint, so here it is. There will be more posted soon.

Are there other colors you would like to see?

Also, Hopefully I will get the nerve up to make some shirts for summer to put up in the shop. You guy's trust me right? To make nice looking clothes?

You can see them in action if you click my shop link, but you already know that…

I just love spring. And mint.

Maybe these are more pistachio? Mint leaves are quite dark, whereas pistachios are naturally pale.

Shannon

A blouse

Here is something that I sewed for myself you might like to look at.

Basically it is just a blouse, but here is a story if you are looking for one.

The fabric came from my Grandma Brimhall’s fabric stash. Like all good grandmas she is generous and has a nice stash, luckily this was a big enough piece to make something! What else do you make from a piece of striped poly-cotton? A blouse! I made the pattern from an old button up shirt pattern that was already fitted to my body, I just took away the collar, lowered the neck, added a yoke and widened the body so it was looser. If you ever want to learn pattern alteration basics and don’t like the internet I can come over and show you! It is empowering, but just as frustrating as any other sewing related thing I s’pose.

I closed it up with buttons in the back, I like back details better then others if you didn’t know already. Which also let me learn how to use the button hole mode on my 80s sewing machine! So wonderfully satisfying!

Mr. Wood and I went on a date awhile ago to see our lovely friends (l’anarchiste) play at Kilby Court in SLC. Technically kilby court is a street, but it is also a quaint little concert garage for the up and coming, and L’anarchiste  are up and coming (they are playing at SXSW in Austin this year). So I got to dress up in my full hipster garb, which turns out included my new blouse and my most favorite corduroys and my most favorite boots from Spain (well, really from Savers). The band was fantastic. I liked the drums.

We also went to Bruges for our favorite food--Frites and andalouse mayo. Frites are really fries, but the Belgians invented fries so they should do the naming. Anyways, they are better then any french fry you have ever had, so we will stick to the name frites if only to raise them above the rest. Sorry there are no pictures, you see, I do not carry a huge nice camera with me everywhere. But even though I don’t have a picture, go and get  frites, and be sure to get the andalouse sauce, nothing else compares.

Also, we were so starving that later we got dollar menu items at burger king. It was horrible. I want to apologize to all the people we ignored, especially sorry dad—of course you were right when you said burger king didn’t make real food, that would explain why my spicy chicken tasted like tuna and spicy cardboard. Regrettably we both spent a considerable amount of the night thinking we were going to get food poisoning. We didn’t, but it was the suspense that was horrible.

To adventures and great poly-cotton prints!

Shannon

Bridals

Okay, this is the last wedding post I’m sure. But I want to give you some story with it.

For those of you who didn’t know (you were probably at least guessing) I did make my wedding dress. If it weren’t for the neck line the actual sewing went relatively well. The timing was perfect because I had spent winter and spring semester working with Professor Burnham in various classes refining my sloper pattern (a basic pattern that fits all my own uniqueness). I spent a couple months making sketches and ordering swatches because I didn’t have an idea of what I wanted my dress to look like. I know, young, single, crafty and no idea what to do for her wedding?

When I was 16 I bought a wedding dress pattern on sale which I thought was perfect. I kept it around with me for years, anxiously feeling like I should of already started it because it was so huge. When the time finally came I decided it was not what I wanted. What I wanted was simple. Simple style, fabric, feel everything. Am I a simple person? Not really. Well, yes. It’s complicated. But let’s start out by making the point that I really like cloth and clothes, it seems silly to admit but it is an important aspect of my life--one that I’m almost always aware of.

I decided that my wedding would be the beginning of my new life. It would be the most beautiful day I was yet to experience, not to mention the sweetest, most important day of my life (it turns out it was) and I did not want to distract it with itchy, gaudy or uncomfortable clothing. I did not want to look at pictures of the day and see this fancy intricate gown, I wanted to see the beauty of the day, the newness, the excitement. What I thought I wanted wasn’t appropriate for how I wanted to feel that day. I’m not saying it should be like this for every lady, but it was for me. That being said--yes, I am a simple person.

The dress I designed had vintage elements. I wanted cotton because I have this snobbish aversion to 100% polyester for august afternoons (or most afternoons…), and because I liked the softness and lack of shine it had. I chose a sheer cotton voile for the top layer which had just enough sheen to be elegant, cotton broadcloth and a tissue-thin silk lining that kept me cool.The skirt was a complete circle. 6 yards of skirt X 3 layers= a lot of skirt. I scalloped the neckline and cuffed the sleeves. For fit I chose tiny pleats on the sleeve and bodice. My favorite part was the cotton lace I found at local shop Yellow Bird (which was a miracle, it took me a month online of finding nothing quite right). The dress was perfect, never have I had something fit so well (thanks Dr. Burnham), I could of worn it all day, and I feel that I was really able to create a wedding dress that showed the new beginning, the beauty and the peace that I felt that wonderful day.

And with that, some photos taken in November in a field next to my parent’s house in Toquerville, by a charming and ever talented brother-- Jason Malaska.

 

have a beautiful day